Sharing Time

Here is my next sharing time... I'm know 2 posts in the same day, woot woot, right? LOL!  This masculine card, I also made for a swap. If you like it or not I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to leave comments. Have A Great Day!

Stamps: Clockworks, Daring Adventure

Paper: Island Indigo, Early Expresso, Very Vanilla

Ink: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Early Expresso, Island Indigo

Accessories: Houndstooth Embossing Folder, Clear & Gold Embossing Powder, VersaMark Pad

Stage Fright & Sharing Time

Hi There,

I hope I'm not the only one in saying this...but I tend to get stage fright when sharing the ideas I've designed sometimes. I see so many amazing ideas on Pinterest and blogs that it makes me feel my ideas aren't really all that great. I get so excited and inspired when others share there ideas! & I really want to be part of that. So one of my goals this year is to come out of my shell for sharing time. 

So to start, here is a card I designed months ago for Stampin' Up Convention as one of my swaps. I hope you like it! :)

Inside...

Stamps: Blooming with Kindness

Paper: Raspberry Ripple, Whisper White, & Basic Black

Ink: Raspberry Ripple, Always Artichoke

Accessories & Tools: Scallop Circle Bigz Die, Scallop Square Punch, 1-1/4" Square Punch, Scallop Edge Border Punch,  Pearl Basic Jewels, Designer Frames Embossing Folder, Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz

All of these products can be found in the current 2012-2013 Stampin' Up Catalog.

Stampin' Up Card Club 2013 Open Seating

An invite to all who live locally in the Salt Lake Area: Anyone who needs a Mommy timeout or some girl time and wants to make cute cards... I will be starting a Stampin' Up Card Club for 2013. Every other month we get together and make cards. The cards are pre-designed and pre-cut ready for you to assemble. Each month we teach you new techniques and ideas to take home. You get your cards FREE but are required to spend only $25 in Stampin' Up product each time we meet (6 times a year). You also get a turn to received the hostess benefits. We do ask you to commit for a year which is 6 meets. If you want to join the club, please let me know via email by January 5th. Our first meet we'll be Saturday, January 26th at 10:00. Then we'll be meeting the 2nd Saturday of every other month, starting in March. It's alot of FUN! & a good way to meet some new crafty friends! Space is limited and it will be first come first serve. If you have any other questions, please send me a message. theartsyaddict@live.com :) HaPpY Holidays!

Winner of Drawing

The winner of the facebook drawing is...drum roll please.... Hailey Fawson. Thanks again to all of you! Happy Holidays! :)

A FaBuLoUs Drawing to say THANK YOU

I just wanted to send a THANK YOU to all the people who have "liked" my facebook page. To say Thanks, I'll be doing a drawing this weekend for a set of Peppermint Stands. Another way to say thanks... I've even made them all pretty so you don't have

 to find time to make them during the busy holiday season. :) Everyone who has liked the The Artsy Addict page by Friday, December 7th at midnight, will be entered to win. Thanks again! & Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas Banner

Hi there! Today I’m going to be doing a tutorial on this cute Merry Christmas banner. Hope you all enjoy and have a great holiday season!

Products and Tools:

10 – Wood Label Banners

Coordinating Paper, Paint, & Glitter

Wood Glue

I used these 4 colors of paint:

& BoBunny Mistletoe Coordinating Papers

Step 1: Trace Block Letters

•              Tools: a sharp pencil to trace your banners

•          Use the backside of the paper you want to display when tracing. 

•           Press and hold the wood with one hand so that your image doesn’t shift while tracing. With the other hand, trace around the image. Before moving the wood look to make sure that your trace has not shifted, otherwise when you cut it out, it will not fit correctly. Great Job! Tracing is one of the trickiest parts. You can relax a little and have some FUN now! 

•          Note: Always trace before painting! If you forget you'll have tracing marks around the wood and will need to go back and touch up. It creates an extra step and takes more time.

•           Also Note: When working with a large number of pieces it helps to number the wood and paper so that when you go to assemble the pieces they match as perfectly as when you traced them. There is usually some variation with the wood so this helps you to not be playing the matching game when trying to glue your paper to the wood. See picture below 

Step 2: Prep Wood

If your wood has any unsmooth surfaces you’ll want to sand your wood before painting. 

Step 3: Paint Wood

•              Tools: paint & sponge brush 

  

•              Paint ½ inch border around the front of the banners

•              Paint complete sides and backs of banners for a more completed project.

 Step 4: Cut Paper

•              Tools: a pair of scissors to cut your banners and to do any trimming. I find it easier to cut detailed areas, etc. with a smaller pair of scissors

•              Cut letters right on the line that you traced. Don’t worry if when you lay down your image on the wood if it is a little smaller or larger than the block. I'll teach you in a later step how to disguise your imperfections.

Step 5: Distress Paper

•              Tools: Everyone has there own technique and tools for distressing. I prefer to use what I call a cat eye.  It is a small inkpad that is in the shape of a cat eye. Color Box is the company that makes them. I usually recommend chalk only ink, pigment inks are a little too harsh when distressing. The only exceptions I make with this is if you really want the Black or Dark Brown to really be solid and pop, then use a pigment ink. We carrying these in The Wood Connection. If you need to distress with a color you don't have, you can use a technique called dry brushing. 

Distressing with ink pad

•               Take your cat eye or distress tool and flick around all the edges of the paper. Start very light and if you want more, you can add. It’s always better to have too little than too much.

Dry Brush Distressing

•             Wood Connection has an awesome tutorial on how to do this. For more information, you can click this link... Dry Brush Distressing.

Step 6: Glue Paper to Wood

•              Tools: you’ll need Darice Wood Glue and sponge brush for this portion of the project.  

•              Sponge wood glue on the front of one piece of wood at a time. ***Try to use it sparingly, a thin layer, not too much. It will cause your paper to bubble after you adhere it, if you put too much on. *** 

•              Once you put the glue on the wood, line up starting on one side and add your paper. Be sure to press firmly all along the surface to prevent bubbling. Repeat same steps on all of your wood.

•              As you’re adhering your paper to each piece of wood, continue to go back and put pressure on areas that may be starting to bubble on past wood. With pressure you can, in most cases, work out bubbles that seem to form. I have found that with less glue, fewer bubbles form.

Step 7: Glitter Letters

Wood Connection has an awesome tutorial on how to glitter wood, for more information click the link... Glittering Wood.

 Step 8: Glue Wood to Wood

Now you’ll want to glue your banners together to create a three-dimensional look.

Step 9: Create Christmas Banner

•           Tools: Banner Punches, Smooth cardstock, Stamps, Embossing Powder, Embossing Gun, Mini Hole Punch, Distressors, Ribbons, 3 Dimensional Adhesives, etc.

•            Note: If you have more questions about the "Christmas" banner portion of this project, you can email me at theartsyaddict@live.com.

  A BIG THANKS to the Wood Connection for allowing me the opportunity to guest post! A $25 gift certificate will be given when you enter the raffle on The Wood Connection Blog. 

 Until next time... Happy Crafting & Happy Holidays!

Amazing Halloween Inspiration!

So speaking of inspiration in our lives... have you ever taken a few minutes to think about all the people that inspire you? For me, I do this pretty regularly with many of the things I do with work, crafting, etc... being inspired and inspiring others makes me giddy! Pinterest is one of my most favorite places to get inspired about the things I love! but beside my virtual pin board, I can only think of a few very awesome people who have always inspired me to be a better person and a better artist. my sister is one of them! she is so much fun and seriously talented!!! i have her to thank for so many things! she's the guest designer for the wood connection this week... and you'll totally understand what I mean when you see this post! She really takes her art to the next level!!!


ghost shadow box tutorial


I am Heather from She Runs. I hope you all enjoy.

Let's get started!

Supply List:
1 11"x14" Box Sign from The Wood Connection
Gel Medium or Mod Podge (found at most National craft stores)
Acrylic Paints in Black, White, Brown, and Orange
White Gel Pen
Pencil
Vinyl Squeegie from The Wood Connection (pictured below)
Paint Brushes
Foam Brush
Assorted Halloween paper scraps (I used papers from the new Echo Park Chillingsworth Manor line)
Alphabet Stickers (I used the Echo Park Apothecary Emporium stickers- also available at The Wood Connection)

With your pencil, sketch out your ghost on the 11"x14" Box Sign. Don't worry about messing it up or having to erase, you're going to cover the entire box anyway. This sketch will just serve as a guide.

Now start tearing up pieces of your Halloween papers and applying them to the box with Gel Medium or Mod Podge and a foam brush. Make sure you cover the back side of your paper thoroughly with medium to ensure the whole piece sticks well. Once you have the paper adhered to the box use your vinyl squeegie to smooth the paper out and make sure there are no air bubbles underneath. Work in small to medium sized sections. After you have a paper down that covers part of your sketch, go back in with pencil and fill the sketch in on the paper.

Here's a pic of the blue squeegie thingy. LOL. I have no idea what they are called but they are awesome for this type of work. I picked mine up at The Wood Connection.

This is what my box looked like after I finished covering it with paper. Notice you can still lightly see my ghost shape in pencil.

Now my favorite part begins. Bring on the paint!

I started with my ghost. Using a color wash of white acrylic paint and water cover the whole inside of your ghost very lightly. I do this part in layers of paint. It's always easier to add layers than to realize you've used too much paint and can't take it off. Once your ghost stands out from the rest of the background start adding more layers of white acrylic paint around the inside edge of your ghost. This will make your ghost really begin to "pop" Just keep working in layers around that edge until you get the desired effect. I like to leave the center lighter. It adds depth and interest to the project, plus you want your awesome collage skills to show through. Once the white paint is dry paint in the eyes and boots with black acrylic paint.

Now I add a very light color wash of brown to the rest of the background. Then I start shading again with brown paint and water. All the way around the edges of the entire box, the ghost and the eyes. This really makes the ghost stand out as well. Once that is all dry, paint orange scallops around the box. I also painted the sides of the box orange and added black scallops to that. When those sections are dry, go back in and add white centers to the scallops. And shade all the way around your orange scallops with a brown wash.

After I painted the boots black I dry brushed a little white for highlights and used a white gel pen to add laces and accents. At this point it's time for the alphabet stickers.

You can finish up the piece by covering the entire thing with Gel Medium or Mod Podge. This will protect your paint and adhere the alpha stickers so they won't peel off or lift in the future. Be sure to let your piece dry very well before adding the finishing layer of Gel Medium.